Rider Files

Michael LaFollette sent me some photos I was very excited to get. Mike is in the process of restoring a J.B. Jones Harley-Davidson race machine.

J.B. Jones was one of the leading motorcycle racers of the 1930s and ‘40s. His accomplishments include winning the AMA National T.T. Championship a total of five times, 1936 and 1938-1941. He was runner up in the inaugural Peoria TT National in 1947. Many riders of the era called J.B. Jones the best T.T. racer of his time. His record on TT courses was the nation’s best of the late 1930s and early 40s. Jones was born in Dallas in 1906, lived Indiana in his prime racing years. After his racing career he worked for years in motorcycle dealerships in the St. Louis area, where he lived until his death.

Mike’s dad, Glen LaFollette, raced with J.B. and was very close to him in those days. Mike’s father bought both of J.B.’s bikes in the early 40 or 50’s. Mike ended up with the 45 cu. in. Harley.

“We were at a corn roast at my great uncle’s house and I was talking about the old bike and wished I could find them,” Mike said. ”My great uncle Ed told me my father sold one to his son Wil years ago. I called Wil and he said he still had it in the barn. That’s how I ended up with it 29 years ago. I’m currently working on putting it back in running condition, just like my father and JB had it. My Mother told me last week that she would find the original bill of sale from JB to my father. It’s so cool to have such a piece of history and I hope to take it to a vintage race when I complete it.”

Here are a couple of photos Mike sent of the historic racing bike before he began restoration.

(Click on photo for larger version)

An aerial view of Homestead-Miami Speedway.

In 2012 Homestead-Miami Speedway returns to the AMA Superbike schedule for the first time since 1996 and that’s a good thing. I haven’t been to the track since that ’96 Superbike event, but from what I remember about the facility is that it was state-of-the-art for the time and I’m sure holds up well even by today’s standards. The track itself was an excellent design for being inside an oval speedway. I know there were a few issue areas at that time, which I hope have been, or will be addressed.

Homestead was not a successful event in 1996. There was one big reason for that in my estimation and that was the tragic ValuJet Flight 592 crash that happened just a few days before the Superbike race.  I was working at communications manager for AMA Pro Racing at the time and all the advance media we had lined up understandably went away. So the event went on under the backdrop of the tragedy and with virtually no media buildup.

This year I believe the track has a much better opportunity to attract a big crowd. There should be good interest by the media in having the series back and the track itself is better known now (it was brand new in ’96). The other element is the Hispanic fan base in South Florida. The series now has a genuine star and championship contender in Martin Cardenas, who is from Columbia. Having a racer of Cardenas’ stature will almost certainly draw more fans to Homestead this year.

Does Homestead have the potential to be a long-term success? I believe with proper promotion and care to make the fan experience a memorable one; the event has solid long-term potential.

I haven’t been to the track in nearly 16 years, but one of the biggest issues for the fans then was visibility. There were fairly tall walls surrounding the road course and I went up in the stands to check it out and you couldn’t see most of the road course unless you were near the top of the grandstands. If those walls are still there they need to be addressed, either by removing them or at the least placing several mega-screens in places where fans can watch the action as it takes place.

In addition, for pro events promoters should work closely with riders to correct any safety issues they feel need to be addressed. Those walls were a little too close even 15 years ago and the bikes have gotten nothing but faster. Air barriers will help, but aren’t the ultimate answer.

If these steps are taken I think Homestead will be a welcomed addition to the series. It would be nice to get to visit South Beach once a year, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the race does well.

(NEWS RELEASE)

PICKERINGTON, Ohio — The American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) invites racers to download the official 2012 AMA Amateur Competition Rulebook, available now at AmericanMotorcyclist.com > Racing > Rulebooks.

The 2012 rulebook covers amateur, Pro/Am, standard and youth competition in motocross, off-road racing, track racing and all-terrain vehicle racing. It details rider and motorcycle eligibility, equipment standards, meet rules, points, class advancement and more.

The 2012 AMA Amateur Competition Rulebook goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2012.

Written and updated by the elected member representatives of the AMA Congress, which meets annually, the 203-page rulebook is provided for the exclusive use of AMA members and AMA-chartered clubs and promoters.

“The AMA’s history is rooted in nearly nine decades of amateur motorcycle competition, and the collective wisdom of that experience is reflected only in the AMA Amateur Competition Rulebook,” said AMA Director of Racing Joe Bromley. “The rulebook is available for the exclusive use at AMA-sanctioned events by AMA-chartered clubs and promoters. When you compete at these events, you can rest assured that the governing rules provide the gold standard of fair and orderly competition that is the hallmark of an AMA-sanctioned meet.”

The AMA Racing Amateur Competition Rulebook is complemented by a host of supplemental rules that cover National Championship Series and Grand Championship Events. Supplemental rules packages for 2011 will be published as they become available at AmericanMotorcyclist.com.

About the American Motorcyclist Association
Since 1924, the AMA has protected the future of motorcycling and promoted the motorcycle lifestyle. AMA members come from all walks of life, and they navigate many different routes on their journey to the same destination: freedom on two wheels. As the world’s largest motorcycling rights organization, the AMA advocates for motorcyclists’ interests in the halls of local, state and federal government, the committees of international governing organizations, and the court of public opinion. Through member clubs, promoters and partners, the AMA sanctions more motorsports competition and motorcycle recreational events than any other organization in the world. AMA members receive money-saving discounts from dozens of well-known suppliers of motorcycle services, gear and apparel, bike rental, transport, hotel stays and more. Through its support of the Motorcycle Hall of Fame, the AMA preserves the heritage of motorcycling for future generations. For more information, please visit AmericanMotorcyclist.com.

This is one Bill Hougaboom may want to put on his mantle.  It shows Hougaboom (No. 426) on his Suzuki GSXR750 leading a pack of riders in what is probably a WERA A Production race at Blackhawk Farms Raceway in August of 1986. The pack Hougaboom leads includes Tim Morrissey (No. 854), Dan Chivington (No. 53), Steve Landrey and Doug Polen (No. 296). I believe Polen eventually made his way to the front of this race, but at least for a lap Hougaboom led some of the best racers of that era, including a future World Superbike Champion and Hall of Famer. Today Hougaboom is an attorney in Michigan.

Bill Hougaboom (No. 426) on his Suzuki GSXR750 leads a pack of riders in what is probably a WERA B Production race at Blackhawk Farms Raceway in August of 1986. The pack Hougaboom leads includes Tim Morrissey (No. 854), Dan Chivington (No. 53), Steve Landrey and Doug Polen (No. 296). (Larry Lawrence photo)

(NEWS RELEASE)

AURORA, Ill. (December 21, 2011) – In arguably the biggest move in the off season, James Stewart, of Haines City, Fla., signed a five-year agreement with the Toyota/Yamaha/JGRMX team. Stewart will make his debut on the Joe Gibbs Racing machine January 7, 2012, at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, Calif., when the Monster Energy AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship, begins.

Stewart, a two-time Supercross Class champion, has created mainstream in-road for the sport of supercross since turning professional in 2002, becoming the first-ever African American to win a major motorsports title. The highly-publicized move to the Gibbs team garnered national media coverage, including the front page of USA Today, The Wall Street Journal and ESPN’s Sports Center, to name a few, for the 25-year-old phenom.

The winner of 42 Supercross Class main events, Stewart suggested he will eventually make the transition to four wheels under the Joe Gibbs Racing banner. However, he hasn’t lost sight of becoming supercross’ all-time winningest rider, a title currently held by seven-time Supercross Class champion Jeremy McGrath, who boasts 72 wins.

Stewart told USA Today: “My No. 1 focus is get to 73 wins, and after that, we can hit (NASCAR) full force. We are definitely making steps to hopefully battling with Junior (Dale Earnhardt) and (Jimmie) Johnson. I am looking forward to it as another challenge in life. The cool part is maybe I have a chance to be great in two different sports.”

Currently 31 wins away from breaking McGrath’s record, Stewart, whose known as one of the fastest riders on the planet, has only been beat six times in a race that he did not crash. However, he possesses a 92% career win/crash rate, and through his first four seasons, he literally won or crashed. It wasn’t until his fifth season that a competitor was able to beat Stewart in a race that he didn’t crash. Stewart may be his own biggest competitor, but this year’s field is stacked with nine different Supercross Class winners, a stat that’s never been part of this 38-year tradition.

The Gibbs family has long been synonymous with winning, having captured three NASCAR titles and three Super Bowl championships. It’s been four years since Joe Gibbs Racing MX was established, debuting on the Monster Energy Supercross circuit, and this year, Team President Coy Gibbs is ready to give his family another coveted trophy.

Gibbs stated, “When we started the supercross team in 2008, we had a building phase and a championship phase. We spent the past four years learning the sport and the equipment, and now we are ready to compete at the highest level with an accomplished and talented athlete like James Stewart, along with our founding partners Toyota and Yamaha.”

The 2012 Monster Energy AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship, season gets underway in just a matter of weeks, from Angel Stadium on Anaheim, Calif., on Saturday, January 7.

For more information on the Monster Energy AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship, please log on to www.SupercrossOnline.com. For all media requests, please contact Denny Hartwig dhartwig@feldinc.com or 630-566-6305. To follow Monster Energy Supercross on Facebook and Twitter, log on to http://www.facebook.com/supercrosslive and http://twitter.com/supercrosslive.

About Feld Motor Sports®
Feld Motor Sports®, Inc. is the world leader in specialized arena and stadium-based motor sports entertainment. Feld Motor Sports, Inc. productions include Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam®, Monster Energy Supercross, AMA Arenacross Series, Nuclear Cowboyz℠, and IHRA® Nitro Jam®. Feld Motor Sports, Inc. is a division of Feld Entertainment, the world’s largest producer of live family entertainment. For more information on Feld Entertainment, visit www.feldentertainment.com.

John Davis (No. 990 Yamaha RZ350) leads a group of riders in the C Production Novice race in the 1984 WERA Grand National Finals at Road Atlanta. Davis was one of the leading riders in that class out of the CRRC (now CMRA) club in Texas. Here Davis leads Kris Frost (No. 616) and Rex Miller taking the inside line on his No. 679 Honda Interceptor.  You can just make out Robby Braunscheidel on the No. 665 Interceptor leading up the next group.  These riders were battling for a top-10 finish. Frost was the highest finisher of this group taking fifth in a race that was loaded with talent including Ron Ewerth, Kurt Hall and Jamie James. Kenneth Davis (no relation to John Davis that I’m aware of) won the race. I think Kenneth Davis raced a Yamaha RZ500 in the event. There were over 700 riders in the GNF that year.

John Davis (No. 990 Yamaha RZ350) leads a group of riders in the C Production Novice race in the 1984 WERA Grand National Final at Road Atlanta. (Larry Lawrence photo)

(NEWS RELEASE)

SONOMA, Calif. (Dec. 20, 2011) – Infineon Raceway has reaffirmed its position as an industry leader in recycling, collecting more than 58 tons of materials during the 2011 Big O Tires Racing Season.

The raceway partnered with the Conservation Corps North Bay to collect 116,881 pounds of materials during the 2011 season, which included the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, IZOD IndyCar® Series and AMA Pro Road Racing event weekends. The raceway has collected more than 267 tons of materials (534,815 pounds) since the inception of its recycling program in 2004.

“One of the most obvious and effective steps we can take in maintaining a sustainable business operation is to ensure the tremendous volumes of packaging and other materials that come through this facility find their way into the recycling stream,” said Steve Page, president and general manager of Infineon Raceway. “We don’t get 100-percent, but that’s our goal and we’re pushing hard.”

Below is a breakdown of the recycling totals from 2011:

· Aluminum: 560 pounds

· Cardboard: 48,720 pounds

· CRV (glass, aluminum, plastic beverage containers): 21,961 pounds

· Metal debris: 16,820 pounds

· Mixed paper: 10,820 pounds

· Tires: 18,000 pounds

Infineon Raceway also recycles all used motor oil, used oil filters and brake and transmission fluids used at the raceway through Safety-Kleen, a leading provider of environmental services, oil re-refining and responsible cleaning solutions, which resides year-round at the Sonoma Valley facility.

Infineon Raceway’s recycling efforts are part of a larger Accelerating Sustainable Performance program, which was officially launched in November, 2010, through a partnership with Panasonic Corporation of North America. The partnership included a solar installation which provides for 41-percent of the raceway’s overall energy use, as well as a dual-sided, solar-powered LED board on Highway 37 outside the raceway.

The facility will also feature clean-racing technologies on the racetrack at some of its major events in 2012, including the West Coast Moto Jam, May 5-6. For the third consecutive year, the weekend will feature the TTXGP U.S. Championships, which showcases the best in electric motorcycle racing. The raceway will also host the second Accelerating Sustainable Performance Summit, a day-long forum for innovators and thought-leaders from the business, engineering and research communities to explore prospects for sustainable automotive and performance development, and performance-oriented marketing of green cars.

For more information about Infineon Raceway’s sustainability efforts, visit www.infineonraceway.com/sustainability.

(NEWS RELEASE)

Demuth Departs Following a Legacy That’s Earned Him 96-Career Wins and Runner Up on All-Time Win List

Josh Demuth

AURORA, Ill. (December 20, 2011) – Fresh off the heels of the fourth round of the 2012 AMA Arenacross Series season from Wilkes Barre, Pa., three-time champion Josh Demuth has announced that he will retire from the sport in which he has achieved so much success. The Babbitt’s Monster Energy/AMSOIL Kawasaki presented by Maxxis rider currently sits fourth in the Arenacross Class standings, and posted seventh and sixth-place finishes following two nights of action two weekends ago from Wilkes Barre’s Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza.

As a competitor in the AMA Arenacross Series for over a decade, Demuth has become one of the most prolific riders in the history of the sport. The Texas native from North Richland Hills won back-to-back titles in 2002 and 2003, ending the five-year reign of Buddy Antunez. He continued to compete in various other series, including Monster Energy AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship, before returning to the AMA Arenacross Series full time in 2009.

With a renewed drive to win a championship, Demuth posted two victories en route to a third-place result in the Arenacross Class standings. The following season in 2010, his first with Babbitt’s Monster Energy/AMSOIL Kawasaki, Demuth battled bar-to-bar with teammate Tyler Bowers throughout the season. Following a season-ending injury to Bowers, Demuth continued to push, fending off his third teammate, Chad Johnson, over the final month of the season to claim a third AMA Arenacross Series championship. The six wins marked one of Demuth’s most dominant years, and solidified him as one of the best ever in the sport, along with Antunez and Dennis Hawthorne, the only other riders to ever win more than two titles.

“Josh’s accomplishments speak for themselves,” said Todd Jendro, senior director of two-wheel operations, Feld Motor Sports. “He’s one of the riders who helped make this sport what it is today and he’s been a fan favorite for many years. We’ll definitely miss him out on the track, but there is no doubt he’s leaving as a legend.”

“Since coming on board at Babbitt’s back in 2009, it’s been a pleasure to work with Josh,” said Babbitt’s Monster Energy/AMSOIL Kawasaki Team Manager Denny Bartz. “Our relationship with him goes back several years when he competed for us in the mid-2000’s, and through it all, he’s been one of the best riders I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. We hate to see him go, but absolutely respect his decision. He’s earned it.”

At 32 years of age, Demuth is one of the oldest riders competing in the AMA Arenacross Series. However, he still has what it takes to compete with riders a decade younger, knocking on the door for the win throughout each of the nine main events so far this season. While there is no doubt still some fire in Demuth’s tank, he felt like now was the time to walk away from the sport he loves for good.

“Over years I’ve been beat up with a lot of injuries,” said Demuth. “It came to a point where I was struggling to get out of bed and race to where I thought I was capable. I was doing all I could (on the track) and couldn’t win. I felt like it was a good time to walk away before I ride over my head and get hurt.

“Arenacross has been a home for me,” he added. “I’ve been blessed to ride and perform as well as I have. I found a good little niche and it paid off. I got to set some records and make a great career for myself. I had some ups and downs, but I’ve had a chance to win a championship with my father. I dreamt of being a champion as a kid and I was able to do it, and make my dreams come true. It’s gotten to the point where you never want to give up something you feel passionately for, and I tried to ride it out as long as I could, but your body and others things take their toll. I’m happy with how things have turned out.”

Demuth’s legacy within the world of the AMA Arenacross Series will never be in doubt, as he arguably served as the face of the sport in leading it into the new millennium. Fortunately for Demuth, he was able to share that with a lot of others.

“I want to thank all my fans, my family my friends and everyone that’s supported me, whether I was hurt or riding well. I’m so thankful for everyone who was there for me – all my sponsors and those people who have helped me achieve so much success. They, along with the fans, made my career what it is, and they know who they are. I’ve gone longer than a lot of other riders out there, and it’s hard to swallow at the end of the day. You never want to quit something you’ve done your whole life, but I’m happy with my decision. I’ve got a good job lined up with some friends and they ride dirt bikes, so I’ll still enjoy riding. I’m going to keep at it, but I’ll just be taking care of my family in a different way now. I’m looking forward to everything the future has to bring.”

The AMA Arenacross Series continues the 2012 season in just a few weeks from Grand Rapids, Mich., and Van Andel Arena. The fifth round of the season will take place on Friday, January 6, and Saturday, January 7, with two nights of high-octane competition.

Live timing and scoring from each round of the AMA Arenacross Series returns for the 2012 season! To follow the intense racing action live, log onto www.Arenacross.com.

For more information on the 2012 AMA Arenacross Series, log on to www.Arenacross.com. For all media requests, please contact Brandon Short brandon@nextlevelsportsinc.com or 949-365-5750.

Never miss out on the latest news! Follow the AMA Arenacross Series on Facebook and Twitter! Log on to http://www.facebook.com/AMAarenacross and http://twitter.com/arenacross today!

About Feld Motor Sports®
Feld Motor Sports®, Inc. is the world leader in specialized arena and stadium-based motor sports entertainment. Feld Motor Sports, Inc. productions include Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam®, Monster Energy Supercross, AMA Arenacross Series, Nuclear Cowboyz®, and IHRA® Nitro Jam®. Feld Motor Sports, Inc. is a division of Feld Entertainment, the world’s largest producer of live family entertainment. For more information on Feld Entertainment, visit www.feldentertainment.com.